Spray nozzle applications range from material coating to liquid cooling using various spray media and numerous nozzle configurations in order to match the specific needs of a given application. The broad spectrum of spray nozzle applications necessitates a careful analysis of spray injection parameters to come up with an optimum spray nozzle design, as well as to match an appropriate spray nozzle to a desired application.
Flow modeling software applications, such as FLUENT, employ a Discrete Phase Model (DPM), which may be used for modeling of spray nozzle characteristics. However, such modeling software requires users to have the knowledge of complicated spray injection parameters to match the spray nozzle under analysis. Spray injection parameters necessary for modeling spray flow characteristics include drop size distribution, spray velocity, and flow rate at given pressure.
These parameters must be separately obtained and computed prior to any spray modeling. For instance, in order to supply spray injection parameters to the modeling software, all data has to be gathered and drop size distribution has to be calculated multiple times, for example based on Rosin-Rammler distribution from DV0.5 or D32 data sheets.
Additionally, proper nozzle selection requires a number of parameters that a user is not likely to know during the spray system design and specification stage. Prior methods of estimating nozzle configuration were limited in their accuracy due to their lack of ability to take into account fluid characteristics that affect spray angle, such as viscosity and surface tension.